Adventures, Culinary and Otherwise of a New Life In a Small Town

ohmygawditssofrickinhotout

Hey you, wassup? How’s your summer going? It’s been awhile I know, I’ve been busy too, and by busy I mean kind of occupied but really more like I’ve had lots of intentions to actually do things but procrastinated them away because there’s a new season of Real Housewives of NY and you know I’ve been like doing stuff too.

I’ve been cooking things and instagramming them and pretending that that is the same thing as writing – which it is not.

How pretty is that? It’s just a side of wild salmon with Dijon mustard, brown sugar, salt & pepper – then I cooked it till it was done.Chickpea fritters with mint & dill – lots of animal free protein in here- I served them with a garlicky yoghurt and a watermelon salad spiked with ginger and harissa.I re-decorated my dining room to the way I thought it should be at first, but had to wait until a day when I was alone in the house to do it because Christian thought I would be wrong- but it totally opens up the space. HA!

But today, today in the humid sticky heat of nearly August, I’ve decided to share with you not only what’s been happenin’ but my new favorite recipe for No Churn Ice Cream.

I grew these pretty pretty flowers.

I’ll be heading to camp in a few weeks, and I’m nervous but excited. I’ve never spent very much one on one time with sick kids and I’m afraid of getting emotionally overwhelmed, luckily I’ll be with 10 other chefs who are doing the same thing, and we can support each other. One of the great things I’ve discovered about volunteerism is the asshole quotient is usually pretty low, most people who donate their time and energy are kind and generous, and that makes it a whole lot easier to do things that are emotionally and physically challenging.

If you are reading this and you have not yet donated to Culinary Corps I urge you to do so on my behalf, it’s a good thing to do. CLICK RIGHT HERE. Please put my name in the Honoree Box. ( I was using Go Fund Me- but I found their fees too high).

So I was on TV the other day, yeah I was on a show called 207– they highlight things that are happening here in the great state of Maine. The host Rob Caldwell was super nice, in fact everyone there was. I went on to promote Culinary Corps at Camp Sunshine.

Aside from the 300 ums, my wacky looking hair and sweaty brow I think I did pretty well- all I need is a make-up artist and a dream and I would be great at this TV thing.

On a much lighter note I received my first Influenster box this month…so I too can shill free stuff like a celebs, and though I’ve only really gotten to try out 3 of the six items in the box – let me tell you I LOVED them! Hand to god, I wouldn’t say anything if they sucked- like my Glossybox- I did not love Glossybox and I will say nothing more about it (#wasteofmoney).

1. Dickinson’s Witch Hazel cloths– This could go on my desert island list, and it is certainly going with me to camp. They are wonderful when you are hot and sweaty- they cool you off and clean your face- and yes I should maybe have thought of using them before I went in front of the camera.

2. Vaseline Spray moisturizer– I am both lazy and perpetually running late, mostly because I am lazy- and yes my skin does suffer from it- because really who has time to put the lotion on it’s skin when you’ve given yourself 35 minutes to shower, dress, do your hair , feed 3 cats, 1 bird and make breakfast & lunch for you and your husband? This morning I sprayed on my moisturizer as I was walking down the stairs– and my skin is soft and just a bit shimmery. Booyah!

Yes, my bare foot is on my dining room table, where people eat (not me though, I usually sit on the other end)

3. Blue Diamond Sriracha Almonds – So the day my Sunshine box arrived was hot as hell, I just rode my bike all over the place , I was schvitzy and hangry so after I wiped my face down with the aforementioned wipe, I ripped into these babies like I’d never seen food before and forced myself not to just pour the whole packet into my mouth. Instead, I went upstairs to hang out with the bird- like I do everyday when I come home and I ate them like a lady, one (or two or four) at a time whilst sipping a cold glass of lightly sweetened herbal tea ( spiked with gin). I’m not one to go ubernuts with the sriracha, I think it has a time and a place- and that place is definitely on salty crunchy almonds- also I think they would make an AMAZING crust for pan seared fish.

And that’s the end of the notreallyadevertising but they gave me stuff so I would write about it, and now I fulfilled my obligations (and I LOVE my new stuff) so win win.

My dessert making has been going pretty well I’m getting very into this no churn ice cream. I love the texture it’s very soft and creamy and lush, sort of like gelato but more like the spumoni you get at L&B spumoni gardens. If you have ever had the pleasure you know, I don’t gotta tell you. But if you haven’t and if you are ever in Brooklyn and want to know what it was like before Pinterest the go to L&B Spumoni Gardens it’s in Bensonhurst fircrissakes, and not for nuthin’ but the Sicilian slice is freakin’ great also they have good clams.

Today I even have recipe for you! It’s a long game sort of recipe, perfect for when its hot and you don’t want to move around so much. There’s a long wait time – 3 days- ish – but you are really only doing anything for like 25 minutes.

This requires some time because it implements the cold steep; during which you infuse flavors into cold cream using time rather than heat to fill all those fat cells with essential oils. If you are planning to have it on the weekend, you can put in 5 minutes on Wednesday night and a half an hour on Friday and it will be ready on Saturday.

Tea & Toast Ice Cream

1 stick cinnamon

1 vanilla pod

3 tablespoons or 3 tea bags of good quality Darjeeling tea

1 pinch sea salt

1 cup heavy cream

1 can less 3 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk

3 Thick slices of sturdy white country bread or 1/3 of a good baguette

4 tablespoons best butter

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

Using tongs hold the cinnamon stick over a gas flame until it starts to smolder- if you have an electric stove place in a heavy pan and toast until it turns black and your house is filled with this great smell that is burnt cinnamon. Do the same with the vanilla pod, yes I know, it smells freakin’ great.

Break up the cinnamon stick into small pieces and chop up the vanilla bean.

Place the cinnamon, vanilla, tea, pinch of sea salt & cream in a container with a tight-fitting lid cover and stick in fridge if you remember to do so give it a good shake every couple of days let steep over night or up to 3 days.

Meanwhile…. Toast the bread well- until its dark brown with just a tiny bit of burnt

Butter both sides of the bread USE ALL THE BUTTER, break into pieces and place in food processor.

Pulse until you have a coarse crumb, remove from processor and stir in 2 tbs of the condensed milk & salt, taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Strain the cream discard solids (you could wipe off the vanilla beans and stick in some sugar to keep forever, if you wanted to, I do that because I am thrifty)

Whip the cream to stiff peak – I use my KitchenAid you could use a whisk, if you need an arm work out

Fold the remaining condensed milk gently into the whipped cream, get it thoroughly mixed in, the cream will deflate some.

Carefully swirl the toast crumbs into the cream mixture to give a swirl of toasty bits. If you are not confident in your ability to do this with out mucking it up- pour half the ice cream base into a loaf pan then add the toasty bits then cover with remaining base and tap on the counter a few times to get the air bubbles out.

Gently pour everything into a loaf pan or wrap tightly with plastic wrap and freeze over night.

I would serve this with bourbon soaked cherries or some blackberries smashed with a bit of sugar– or even a spoonful of warmed cherry or blackberry jam, a couple of sugar cookies wouldn’t exactly be over kill either.

If you want to do away with the whole nonsense and just make some ice cream whip a cup of cream add most of the can of sweetened condensed milk to it + some thing like chocolate chips or some bits of halvah or crushed berries or salted peanuts or even sriracha almonds (ooooh, hmmm, maybe but maybe not) and freeze it over night in a tightly wrapped container.

So so my lovelies that is the end of today; my girl Holly Jo is in town and I’m meeting her for happy hour in an hour and a half. So in honor of my new hairdo which I hate even though it is a necessary evil because I accidentally burned a hank of hair off of my head with my new hairdryer the same week I broke my fingertip. I am leaving you with these words of wisdom from Countess DeLesseps- with whom I now share a hairdo.